A/N: Reviews still ain't that good yet...come on people, more! i luv reviews! who doesn't? I need to know what I need to improve or whether it's good...come on! i get tons of hits but no reviews...where's the justice! hehs...Alrightie than, fourth chapter...progressing good so far? Enjoy!

Awakening

After dinner, Hermione bid her friends farewell before heading up the staircase which led to her quarters. Sedgewick would not be in yet as he was still eating when Hermione left, so she expected the room to be a mess. Professor McGonagall and Professor Nazri would be coming over in about 10 minutes and Hermione had not yet packed her desk and her books still littered her mini coffee table and the floor in front of the fireplace. Hermione said the password to the mirror and the glass disappeared to show a doorway which led to her quarters, where the fire was already started in her fireplace, spreading the fire's warmth throughout the whole room. Placing her bag on the love seat, Hermione started picking up all her books and putting them back into their correct places and packed her desk to its usual neatness before Hermione attacked it with her homework. Pleased with the condition of the common room, she carried her bag and the books she had been carrying around that day and placed her bag on the chair and her books on the desk itself. Finally satisfied, Hermione sat herself on the love seat and waited. Not a minute too soon, she heard three people walking and talking towards the mirror. She heard Sedgewick say out the password and held open the door for the Headmistress and the Potions Master to enter before him.

"Good evening, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall greeted, followed by Professor Nazri.

"Evening, Professors," She replied, standing up and bowing slightly to both professors. Sedgwick put his bag on his chair together with his books before joining the other three by the fireplace.

"We won't waste anytime. We shall proceed on with transfiguring the meeting place closest to your quarters into Mr. Malfoy's room. May we proceed?" Professor McGonagal voiced out. Hermione nodded and led them to the right of her quarters and opened a door on the far end of the wall, which led to a small passageway with another door at its end. They went through both doors and into the bigger of the two meeting rooms. Hermione and Sedgewick were asked to leave as the adults transfigured whatever was necessary. She was more than happy to oblige and waited in her common room.

20 minutes passed and the two came through the door and into the Heads' common room once again. Hermione stood and waited for either one of them to speak.

"We have transfigured whatever is necessary. If you would please follow me, I will go through with you what is where and what is what," Professor McGonagall said. Hermione nodded and followed her Headmistress through both doors while Professor Nazri went to the Infirmary to collect the medical supplies that would be needed when Mr. Malfoy moved in.

The room was simple. A fourposter bed stood to the right of the room with a bedside table on either side of the queen size bed. There was a door to the left where Hermione suspected was the bathroom, though rather small. There was a small cupboard beside the toilet door and a small fire place was located to the left of the door and a love seat and a rug was arranged in front of the fireplace. There was a small dining table to fit four with four dining chairs in the middle of the room. Hermione noted that there was no window anywhere, and decided to voice out her observation.

"Um, Headmistress, why did you remove the window?" She asked, looking at her Headmistress as they entered the room. Sedgewick looked around too, and was also curious as to why there were no windows as he clearly remembered there was a window where the cupboard was now standing.

"Yes, Headmistress. Where are the windows? Won't it get stuffy?" Sedgewick enquired.

"We don't want anyone seeing that there is a room here and that the occupant would soon be Draco Malfoy. Safety reasons. And we have done a charm that would keep air ventilated through the small gap above the cupboard" The Headmistress explained simply, leading Hermione and Sedgewick to the door on the left of the room just as Professor Nazri returned with the medical supplies. Professor Nazri let the three finish off while he stocked up the cupboard

"This, is the bathroom. It's small, but adequate. Professor Nazri is restocking the cupboard with all the supplies that you will need to care for Mr. Malfoy when he is moved here. There is an emergency alarm here," She added, pointing to a small red button by the bed, "and another in the bathroom by the door. All you have to do is tap on it with your wand," Professor McGonagall tapped her wand on the red button, "and we would be alerted by the glowing of our wands," she added, pointing towards Professor Nazri, who drew out his wand which had a blue glow at the tip. The two Heads nodded and allowed the Headmistress to continue. "Either me, Professor Nazri or Madam Pomfrey would be here to help as soon as we can. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall," Both of them replied.

"Good, I think that should be it. Poppy, would you go through with Hermione whatever she needs to know about the supplies?"

Hermione and Sedgewick went over to the cupboard where Professor Nazri roughly briefed them again on the various potions and medical supplies, most of which both Heads were already familiar with, thanks to the briefing they had had with Professor McGonagall earlier that day.

After everything was over, Professor McGonagall and Professor Nazri left the common rooms, letting the Heads carry on with their own activities. Hermione threw herself onto the love seat, letting her legs dangle at the side of the chair. She was tired and had not done her homework. Sedgewick went to make some hot chocolate for the two of them and placed the two hot mugs on the coffee table.

"Thanks, Sedge," Hermione thanked him and sat up properly and took the mug in both her hands.

"So, how are you going to deal with Malfoy?" Sedgewick asked as he took of the hot chocolate.

"I dunno. I guess, I'll just...deal. I dunno, really," Hermione admitted. She really didn't know how to deal with a muggleborn hating wizard who hated her from the day he knew who she was.

"I may not be in such bad terms with him, but I know how you feel. It must suck to care for someone who hates you,"

"It does suck," Hermione replied, taking another sip from her mug.

"Don't worry about it so much. I'll take care of him most of the time, I guess. I mean he is a guy and so am I..." Sedgewick ventured, knowing Hermione didn't like the idea of seeing any part of a guy's anatomy.

"Don't even think about it, Head Boy," Hermione warned, a playful glimmer in her eyes.

"No worries, Hermione. I'll handle the bloke," Sedgewick reassured Hermione with a smile. Hermione smiled back and they lapsed into silence. They continued to drink their hot chocolate before heading to their bedrooms to turn in for the night.

Hermione went to her room, took a fresh change of clothes before heading off to the bathroom and waited for Sedgewick to be done in there before heading in to have a quick shower. It was only the day after Malfoy had arrived and she was feeling too anxious about caring for him. How, she wondered, was she supposed to handle herself when Malfoy was really moving in? Shaking her head, she stepped into the shower and cleaned herself before heading off to bed.

Sunday went by with very little excitement. After breakfast, Hermione had went back to her quarters to finish up whatever work she had before joining her friends down to the lake and than to lunch. Uneventful. it was a typical Sunday and Hermione was glad that nothing serious was happening to Malfoy or she would have to rush down to the Infirmary. 'Waste of my time, running down there,' Hermione thought to herself as she listened to her friend tell a joke about three men who had to stuff fruits into some part of their body to live or something like that. She took another bite of her lunch and laughed when she heard the whole joke. Ron definitely had many jokes and never failed to entertain her.

The rest of the day went by with them lounging in the Gryffindor common room before going to dinner and Hermione retreating to her quarters to go to sleep, even though it was only 9 o'clock.

"But Hermione! It's still early! Come on, stay a little while," Ron had whined. He always whined, Hermione realized. If not he was complaining or cursing.

"I'm sorry Ron, Harry, I can't. I'm tired and I have a long day tomorrow. Plus I have yet to pack my bag for tomorrow," Hermione smiled at her two best friends and hugged each of them before heading out of the common room and up the staircase to her quarters. Hermione than realized that the door which had led to the bigger of the two meeting rooms was gone and there was no trace of it ever existing. Now, only one door further down the corridor existed. Of course, prefects will be wondering where the other door went to and would be curious, but Hermione decided to ask the Headmistress about it tomorrow, before their next Prefects' meeting on Tuesday.

Hermione rushed out of the library and towards her Potions class down at the dungeons. She was too absorbed in one of the books she was reading in the library and hadn't noticed that class was about to start. She gripped the strap of her bag tighter, making sure that it does not slip off, and sprinted down the numerous number of steps down to the dungeons. Hermione reach the dungeon level and skidded to the stop in front of the classroom door, which had just been shut. Regaining her breath, she opened the door slowly and timidly entered, hoping that she does not attract too much attention. The students were just beginning to settle themselves on their seats and Hermione went to her own seat up front. She was seated beside Blaise Zabini, Slytherin, that year. Blaise Zabini was tall - Hermione only reached his ears - and had dark hair. He was quite handsome with boyish features and an angular face. He was rather fair, pale in fact and was an acquaintance of Draco Malfoy. They weren't exactly the best of friends but they got along well - they were just not close enough to be considered friends. They just looked out for each other as they were in the same house and they were both from respectable families. Come to think of it, Zabini was exactly like Malfoy when it comes to personality, or lack thereof for that matter. Both were prejudiced, stuck up and think that they rule the world. How she hated it. She hated how the wizarding world was split because of prejudice. It reminded her of a story she had read when she was younger, entitled Roll of thunder, Hear my Cry. It was a novel about the prejudice between the whites and blacks in the past and how unfairly treated they were because of the colour of their skin - the Whites got all the privileges and pushed Blacks around while the Blacks had to suffer in silence and were punished for even bumping into a White man. It was exactly like the Wizarding world; the Purebloods 'ruled' the wizarding world, mocking and degrading the muggleborns while the muggleborns couldn't do anything about it. Of course, not everyone was like that – the prejudiced ones were mainly the Slytherins – but it was near there. Not too bad, but still it existed. It made Hermione's blood boil, but for now, she could do nothing about the situation.

She was knocked back to reality when she heard Professor Nazri give instructions to the students to begin brewing their potion - a healing potion of sorts - and heard Zabini slam his book shut a little too loudly. Hermione jumped slightly and glared at the aforesaid boy before looking at the instructions on the board and went to collect her ingredients. She was glad she didn't have to do pair work that day or it would have been disastrous; the last time they worked together they had added the dragon scales a little to early and the potion turned charcoal black and slimy. She brewed her potion silently and so did Zabini. She added the last ingredient and stirred the concoction as required and let it simmer and bubble before removing from the fire and pouring the clear blue liquid into a vial labeled with her name. She corked it and walked over to the front of the desk and placed it onto Professor Nazri's desk, where he was grading an essay they had handed in the day Draco Malfoy had arrived at Hogwarts. Upon seeing her at his desk, he looked up from the essay he was marking and addressed the Head Girl.

"Miss Granger, I would like a word with you after class. Please stay behind afterwards, if that is okay with you?" He asked, looking at the Head Girl expectantly.

"It would be fine, Professor," Hermione replied with a slight nod of her head. Professor Nazri gave a small smile before returning to grading the essays in hand. Hermione turned before Professor Nazri called for her.

"And please keep the rest of your potion in the vials over there. We will be needing it. I know you made the perfect potion," He added with a small smile. Hermione simply nodded and went back to her table to store the remaining amount of her potion into the given vials. Soon afterward, the other students began to do the same and Hermione sat down on her stool, waiting for class to end. She was wondering what potion they were doing and looked up at the board. Cursed Healing Potion. That was indeed a weird name to give a potion. Hermione remembered it as a potion used to help the wounds of a cursed individual heal more quickly. It was used for those who were cursed against healing and the potion aided the individual by slowly dwindling the effect the curse had on the individual and thus helps the wound to heal naturally as any form of magic on the wound may bring harm to the injured individual. Hermione knew that he chose this potion so that Hermione would be able to use it for Malfoy later on while he was under her care. She took note of all the important details and put her Potions textbook into her bag just as the class ended. She stayed seated, asking Ron and Harry to leave first as she had Arithmancy afterward and they had Divination. The students shuffled out of the classroom and shuffled, again, to their next class.

"Miss Granger," Professor Nazri addressed Hermione once everyone was gone. Hermione went to the desk with her bag on her shoulder.

"Yes, sir?"

"As you know, Mr. Malfoy is in the Infirmary and that you would be taking care of him once he is well enough to leave. He has not woken up or stirred since Saturday night, when you brought him in. I know you must be wondering why I'm telling you this. You have to understand that Draco isn't just unconscious due to the seriousness of his injuries. However, he is in his state as there is something that is preventing him from waking up. A curse, i believe, was put on him and thus his current condition. We plan to -" However he could not continue. His wand on his desk was glowing and he was on his feet at once, beckoning Hermione to follow him. Hermione realized as well that her own wand was glowing. Does that mean that Sedgewick's wand was glowing too? She ignored the thought and knew that if his wand did glow than he would be at the Infirmary as well.

They made their way quickly to the Infirmary and entered the makeshift room, where Sedgewick, Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagal were trying to hold a screaming Draco down while the aforesaid boy struggled and screamed against their grip, scratching their arms and faces in the process with his nails. Professor Nazri drew out his wand and quickly cast a charm to bind Malfoy to the bed. The three who were holding the boy down stepped away from the boy and performed quick healing charms on their scratch marks. The two newcomers made their way to the bed, where Draco was still struggling and grunting, eyes open wide. However, his eyes were not their normal silver-blue colour. They were almost completely black and had red specks. Hermione gasped and covered her mouth. His eyes looked demonic and void of any emotion. He was barring his teeth and grunting while trying to be free to the magical bonds around him.

Hermione stepped back a few steps in fear. She hadn't thought that Malfoy's condition would be so bad but now seeing him in front of her in that state was scaring her. She didn't want to take care of him. Not because she hated him, but because she was afraid. She had never seen anyone's eyes like that. His eyes were filled with terror and he gave off a dark and creepy aura while he was in that condition. Even Voldemort's eyes were less freaky! Madam Pomfrey poured a light purple, almost lavender, coloured liquid down his throat and he choked on it due to his struggles. After the potion was all drunk, Malfoy slowly stopped struggling and his eyes went back to their original silver-blue colour. Draco Malfoy lay there awake, beads of perspiration sliding down his face and down his neck and drenched the white cotton top he had on. He began to shiver and his hands balled into fists as he let out a scream. He screamed until his voice was hoarse and he was out of breath. He lay there, binds still on, unable to move and breathing heavily. He turned his head to see Professor Nazri looking at him worriedly from the foot of the bed. Madam Pomfrey was getting another vial from her stock while Professor McGonagal and Hermione watched the boy from a distance.

Draco Malfoy appeared lost and unsure. Fear was evident in his eyes as he looked at the Potions Master. He seemed to be fighting an internal battle as his eyes changed from silver-blue to black and red and back again. Something was trying to get hold of Draco Malfoy and he didn't want it. After a few minutes, he seemed to settle down and looked up at the ceiling, his eyes blank and far away. Madam Pomfrey returned with a bar of chocolate and another vial containing a black coloured liquid. Malfoy consumed both without a fight as the school Healer fed him. He continued to stare at the ceiling and contemplating. What was he contemplating?

After finishing up the chocolate and the vial, Professor Nazri made a chair appear by the side of the bed and sat on it, looking at the boy in front of him.

"Draco, how are you?" He ventured, placing a hand on the boy's trembling shoulder. Malfoy looked up at his Head of House, that is if he hadn't fled school and was a seventh year. Of course, Malfoy didn't know that Professor Nazri was the Head of House for Slytherin, but he knew for sure that he was a new professor here at Hogwarts. Relief swept through him, knowing that someone he knew and trusted would be at the same place he was and he could look for him if anything were to go wrong.

"It's happening..." Draco trailed off, still unable to move due to the binds.

"I know...it was a risk that you took, Draco," Professor Nazri said, removing the binds with a flick of his wand

"Forced to,"

"Yes, you were indeed forced to," Professor Nazri agreed, nodding his head and looking to the floor, thinking. He knew that the boy in front of him was forced to do it and was in this condition because he had refused. He pitied the boy and the situation he was in. He looked up to Draco only to find that he himself was staring far away, eyes clouded and a frown upon his forehead. He knew what the boy was worried about for he too worried for him and the outcome of situation.

A/N: All done! What happened to Draco Malfoy? Read to find out ) Review people…pls? Come on, I've got hundreds of hits, but no one is reviewing! So does that mean I should stop my efforts…?